Weekly Discussion - Against the Grain

[Anonymous]

Weekly Discussion - Against the Grain

What do you do in your system that defies conventional reef wisdom? How long have you done it? How did you decide to do it? Why do you think it works for you? Would you advise others to follow in your footsteps?


About the RDO Weekly Discussion:
This discussion is meant to get at your experience and to share information that is in your head, so don't necessarily treat it as information gathering. State your opinion and, if available, use material, anecdotal or otherwise, that will back up your opinion.
Past weekly discussions will be archived in the archives.
If you have topics that you think would be helpful for the RDO community to discuss, please send me a pm or start your own thread! :mrgreen:

 

[liquid]

The one thing I do is to use normal output GE Daylight (6500 K) bulbs in my IceCap VHO system instead of buying VHO bulbs. None of the shops around here carry T12 VHO's so I took a cue from IceCap's website and tried pushing normal output flourescent bulbs w/ an IceCap ballast and so far I've been pretty happy with it. The tank is only 12" deep (48"x12"x12") and I have two 4' GE Daylight bulbs and one 3' VHO actinic bulb in the hood. So far all of my soft corals, Lobophyllia, and two Montipora frags are doing well. I'll have to post pics after I get them downloaded from the camera.

Shane

 

[mountainbiker619]

liquid,

How is the look with the 6500k GE bulbs? I mean, is it yellow-ish looking?

 

[liquid]

It was a *slight* yellow cast which you'd normally see w/ a 6500 K bulb. W/ the addition of the single 3' actinic, it really whitened it up nicely.

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

I keep pipefish in a fully stocked high flow mixed reef with other fish including tangs, clowns and anthias. I have four species of pipe (one for over 3 years), and they all seem to have no problem with the current. I think this works because I way way over feed because I have the sump and macros to handle it.

 

[Anonymous]

Righty, once again, having seen your system I must say it is RIGHTEOUS.

Past tense for my own system: Used NO fluoro's only for my first reef (housing LPS, lotsa softies, and one GORGEOUS T. derasa, no skimming, kept one third of the tank free of live rock and corals which is where I grew COPIOUS amounts of Caulerpa taxifolia.

Past customers' tanks: Used undergravel filtration in reef, utilizing Caulerpa spp. for most nutrient control (all nano systems). Some systems had no other filtration besides skimming, other systems used wet/dry only (skimming noise in offices an issue).

 

[Anonymous]

I did not do water change in two of my tanks since they were setup. One was setup for about 3 yrs. before demantled. The other one is more than 2 yrs. already.

There is no good reason for what I did, but just laziness and <excuse> lack of time due to a 4 pages to-do list every day.

Things are fine for the most part, and whatever problem that I encountered is not directly attributed to the water change problem.

I were able to get away with it with the use of reactor, superlow topoff rate, and ultrapure water. Definitely not recommanded to anyone else.

 

[Anonymous]

I've kept a lot of non-reef-safe fish in my systems in the past--several types of triggers (bluejaw, niger, pineapple, humu-humu, etc.), harlequin tusks, some angels. Only had problems with a few.

 

[Anonymous]

Silica sand - worked perfectly, saw no difference from using aragonite other than the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ savings

Rare water changes

Seaclone skimmer :lol: (just kidding, it actually works as well as something I paid a lot more for and threw out)

Used a 5500K 175MH bulb for 5 years and was still plenty able to grow corals under it (it's still going, btw)

Refused to dismantle my reef tank to remove a fish that died, much to the consternation of my wife and reefing buddies.

And most recently... paid LFS prices for a few pieces of really crappy LR to get my tank started again after moving to balmy Oak Creek (Milwaukee), Wisconsin.

 

[liquid]

What manufacturer made that 5500 K bulb? Is it a Venture bulb?

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

Wasnt' there an article in AA a few months back that suggested that lighting isn't so much about spectrum as it is good old intensity? I've run MH bulbs for > 2 yrs with no visible negative effects to the corals.

 

[Anonymous]

Hey Righty, what species of pipefish do you have? Do they take dead food at all?

 

[Anonymous]

Use surge devices. I still don't understand why more people don't use them.

 

[liquid]

They normally don't work well on small tanks. I think it'd be cool to throw one on my 30 long but I'm not sure how well it'd work...

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

1. Way too little current : I only run a rio 1700 under about 5 feet of head for my return and two powerheads...all in a 72 gallon reef. I calculate about 3-4 times turnover. Had a cyano bloom and I thought I needed more current, but that went away on its own and I have no problems at all now, except detritus settling in low flow areas, but the hermits take care of that.

2. Lots of plain old limestone...I head it would turn into an algae farm and wouldn't ever make live rock. Now it's covered in coralline and in two more months you won't be able to tell it appart from my "real" live rock. I keep adding more and my system keeps looking better and water quality keeps getting better....and it has great coral fossils and is completely free! 8)

 

[Anonymous]

Emperor angel in my SPS reef. This really SHOULDN'T be against the grain, it's just that the "grain" isn't very well educated in this area for the most part.

No skimmers on tanks under 20 gallons. They are a noisy waste of money when water changes take 2 minutes.

Jim

 

[brandon4291]

I run my reefbowl on just an airstone. There is no pump, and it is swarming with microbubbles. There are several LPS and SPS specimens in the pico reef, now running like this for exactly two years. A strong current of air is enough to power an entire reef, and microbubbles have caused no harm in this system. I believe this pic shows some of the bubbles rising up over the ledge. The LR in the vase is stacked over the airstone, so the current flows up and over the reef face.

Also, I try to acclimate a decent range of reef organisms into the vase. In this picture we should see xenia, blastomussa, montipora, acropora, blue mushroom, galaxea, GSP, sarcophyton, non-photosynthetic yellow gorg, caulastrea, frogspawn, and euphyllia ancora, hammer coral. I sometimes smile when people mention chemical warfare in a 120 gallon reef It appears that a rather wide range of corals can be sensitized to thrive in close quarters without beating each other to pieces.

the avatar puts this picture in perspective:

 

[Anonymous]

Ditto. Shane, I had two surge devices (the kind in Borneman's Corals book) on my 30 long. They were only 1 or 2 gallons, and worked just fine. They fit right under the hood, and weren't any noisier than the rest of the pumps, overflow, etc.

 

[liquid]

Got any pics of that surge Matt? I'd love to see it.

Shane

 

[brandon4291]

Matt do you ever alternate powerhead cycles with one of those wavemaking power strips? Ive always had just linear drive, but it would be wonderful to simulate the rocking action you see hydriods and gorgs do in the real ocean.